Traditionally skateboard decks, such as street decks, long boards, and luge boards, have been manufactured from hardwood veneer layers using industrial presses. These presses push two molds, a positive and a negative form, similar to the shape of a modem skateboard deck against a number of layers of veneer and glue. Once the glue has dried the molds are separated and the skateboard deck is removed, finished, and mounted on skateboard hardware.
It has been noted that avid skateboarders frequently break their skateboards in use, and require replacement decks, although the hardware portion (such as the trucks, including the wheels) are still in good condition. Some skateboarders also wish to customize their decks by building their own, or decorating the outer surfaces. However, at present skateboarders must either obtain a complete replacement skateboard, including hardware, which increases the cost of a replacement; or obtain a pre-manufactured deck, which is pre-shaped and pre-finished. Equipment such as the industrial press needed to manufacture a custom skateboard deck is typically inaccessible to the average skateboard user, who requires instead a less expensive, more accessible means of manufacturing a skateboard deck which may later be customized or finished and mounted on skateboard hardware.